Building an effective Collective Impact effort is understanding how to apply the framework to both the unique context of the community and the issue being addressed. The five conditions of Collective Impact provide a minimum specifications approach: developing a common agenda; building shared measurement; aligning efforts through mutually reinforcing activities; focusing on continuous communications and engagement and supporting the work through backbone infrastructure.
The nuance is in the application.
FSG and the Collective Impact Forum recently released a useful tool for those working in Collective Impact. The Backbone Starter Guide is a compendium and summary of key resources developed over the past five years with specific application to backbone leaders.
The guide contains usual information about the important role of backbone infrastructure in advancing Collective Impact efforts including the purpose and functions of a backbone; how to structure a backbone entity; backbone leadership skills and perspectives and the role of backbones in advancing equity and inclusion in Collective Impact efforts.
In August 2016, Mark Cabaj and I released a paper called Collective Impact 3.0 where we suggested that the role of backbone infrastructure should not be considered a set of prescriptive functions. Rather, we suggested this infrastructure role be a ‘container for change’. Our experience has shown that Collective Impact backbones are not static entities but require the flexibility to evolve in functions and roles over time and depending on the changing context of the community. Vibrant Communities (VC), place-based poverty reduction collaboratives across Canada, have seen significant shifts in their backbone infrastructures over the past 12 years. To maintain momentum over more than a decade, many VCs have reinvented their structures, brought in new leadership and revised strategies to leverage opportunities.
The Backbone Starter Guide is not a recipe book but provides useful examples of how the backbone infrastructure has been applied in different contexts and how it needs to be both flexible and evolving. It brings the unique roles and structures of backbones into focus for existing and emerging Collective Impact efforts. If you want to learn more about backbones and Collective Impact 3.0 visit our resource library at http://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/library/topic/collective-impact.
Learn More:
- Download the Backbone Starter Guide by FSG & the Collective Impact Forum
- Read Collective Impact 3.0 by Liz Weaver & Mark Cabaj
- Build your capacity to evaluate community impact with Liz and Mark, Nov 14-16, 2017 in Saskatoon, SK
